Mayor Eric Adams’ agreement, announced Friday, to limit the time migrants can stay in shelters at taxpayers’ expense, is smoke and mirrors. It’s designed to fool you into thinking he’s solving a problem when he’s actually caving to the migrant industrial complex.
Adams claims the agreement, with the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, will allow the city to evict adult migrants from city-run shelters after 30 days, saving taxpayers money and limiting the need for more shelters. Not true.
The fine print says migrants have a shot at staying longer if they obtain a driver’s license, follow shelter rules, and show good behavior, or — get this one — apply for public benefits. And this is a “non-exhaustive” list of reasons making migrants eligible to stay longer.
The agreement also applies only to single adults. A staggering 78% come with children and get priority placement in hotels. The city currently spends a whopping $387 a night for food and a roof alone for each family, and shells out more money for free medical care, education, and legal services. This agreement does zero to alleviate those staggering costs.
The deal dooms New York City to fiscal disaster because it will continue to be the No. 1 destination for migrants seeking a free roof over their heads. The Big Apple is now Migrant Central.
Worst of all, nothing in the agreement empowers the mayor to evict troublemakers who have repeat run-ins with police. The migrants who beat up cops in Times Square were living in shelters, courtesy of taxpayers, and already had long rap sheets.
When troublemakers are arrested and given a shelter address, the shelter should be contacted and told they no longer qualify. Why should taxpayers be footing the bill to house criminals?
Notorious gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 recruit from the shelters. How convenient that taxpayers pay to house these gangs’ lackeys.
In October, Adams imposed a 30-day limit on adult migrants but wound up in court when Legal Aid and the Coalition challenged it. A long negotiation ensued, ending with Friday’s agreement.
Since 1981, Legal Aid and the Coalition have fought successfully to impose a “right to shelter” in New York. Now these two self-appointed guardians of the downtrodden — not elected by anyone — insist that the “right” applies not just to New Yorkers but anyone from anywhere in the world who wants shelter here. That’s crazy.
After months of negotiating, Adams capitulated. No one at the table was looking out for taxpayers or New Yorkers who see their services being cut and their neighborhoods disrupted by the proliferation of shelters. The multibillion-dollar shelter industry came out a winner, but Joe Public got shafted.
As the agreement was announced, Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom praised the “right to shelter” and Legal Aid Society for the work they do. They’re all in bed together.
Josh Goldfein, a Legal Aid attorney, explained that despite the settlement, “no migrant would be left out on the streets.” In fact, the agreement bans the city from even making migrants sleep overnight in chairs while waiting to be placed, imposing stricter shelter requirements than before.
A “right to shelter” for anyone who shows up on Gotham’s doorsteps means New Yorkers who want sanitation services, police and fire protection, and other city amenities go to the back of the line. Their services get cut to pay for sheltering migrants. Adams needs to battle aggressively, up through the highest courts, to get that “right” reexamined.
Only New York has a “right to shelter,” and it makes the city the top destination for migrants. New York City spends more than 10 times as much as Los Angeles per migrant and more than five times as much as Chicago.
To top it off, the agreement and the Adams administration are renaming migrants “new arrivals,” whitewashing the laws they broke to get here.
Expect hundreds of thousands more to see these welcome signs and come. Who wouldn’t come?
On Sunday, Adams praised the city’s “responsible policies” and blamed “Republican extremists” for the border crisis. Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but the crisis here in New York City is due to the lavish benefits local Democrats insist on offering “new arrivals.” There’s no whitewashing that.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website.
COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Anyone thinking that Adams has broken away from the Democrat Party and is actually against either completely open borders or the unlimited inflows of illegal aliens hasn’t been paying close attention since the beginning. Notice he NEVER says NY state or city should cease being a sanctuary state or city or work with ICE to round up and deport illegals. All he keeps doing is demanding the federal government, meaning the American taxpayer (meaning all of us), send a continuous stream of billions upon billions of dollars annually to his city to pay for the care and upkeep of the ever-growing list of freebies being showered on the Democrats’ new and more pliable voting base. Adams is just another, in a long line of Democrats, who wants to promote the end of the country, so the Marxist Utopia can rise up from the ashes.
New Yorkers and other Democrat run cities should get used to the declining living conditions and higher rates of crime and cost. In time, this will spread out of the cities and into the country as a whole. This is exactly what much of Europe looks like today after decades of following many of these same policies the Democrats here are pushing. The masses in Europe are essentially told to shut-up and just accept whatever the government has imposed on them at this point. The Europeans of course no longer have the means to truly stand up for themselves, so they are stuck between a rock and hard place. Yes, they can protest, but more and more laws are being enacted all across Europe to limit speech and what is allowed as a form of protest. We still have the means here to stand up for ourselves, but for whatever reason, we as a nation have chosen not to. So, we do indeed live in interesting times.
Not to worry folks, LetitiaJames will save NY temporarily with $450 million dollars of our real President’s assets. She is a modern day Robin Hood, stealing from a producer of goods to give to parasites. Ain’t that special?
Haiti in making
Send them to one of Joe Bidens or Kamalas properties… they’re not being used at the moment and the illegals are THEIR guests after all.
“$387 a night for food and a roof alone for each family” ??!??!? Do the math, that’s around $140,000 a year per family. Are you kidding me?
It’s all going to collapse under the weight of the costs and when the cities go bankrupt. As if they aren’t already operating under high deficits.
Idiots. Rule. The. World. Especially blue cities. And New York is at the top of the heap.
The mayor of NY is a pos and always will be. He deserves all the migrants he can get. The should move in with him and sleep in his bed. Dems are good at a few things, lying, cheating, chaos, election fraud, abortion, mistreating fellow Americans and money laundering.
Dem logic always calls for higher taxes on those who work. NYC will raise taxes on ‘millionaires’ to fund these expenses. Millionaires and anyone else who can will exit for Florida, while they can. Dems are intent ,however , on making this impractical by continuing to tax refugees from their paradises wherever they escape to.
PaulE I’m always impressed with your comments. Thank you for your insight. I guess you are NOT a New Yorker?
They, even in NY are rebelling with the hardships they as taxpayers are being put through.Civil war is eminent if things do not change.
Leave…no, it is not easy, it may be the hardest thing you ever do, BUT…do you really want to live in that hell-hole? Do you really want to raise your children in this environment? There are much better places to live, happier places. Stop the excuses and create a better life for your family.
What is obvious to a casual observer is not even seen by the indoctrinated. There has to be payoff for the people who permit and encourage this overthrow of New York.
New York is getting it’s just deserts…….
Stupid Democrat Liberal-Leftists thinking are destroying America in the Republic. or they want to do?
More chaos, destruction, and wasted taxpayers money to support ILLEGAL INVASION brought to America by the failed marxist democrat party!
THROW THEM OUT
SAVE FREEDOM IN AMERICA
Is NYC designated sanctuary city & did the mayor or city council sign a law or what? How did Texas decide which cities to send migrants to ? Last thing, what is your definition of Sanctuary city ???
I think that all the blue states that wanted the illegals in now have a different thought. They did not mind Texas having all of them then it was different when they shipped them there or just like all the other blue states now when it cost them big money now taxpayers have to put up the money thank Biden and Harris and his great team in the White House since they have nothing to worry about they do nothing for this country very sick.
For ALL Blue cities nationwide to follow
tish james can seize trump properties and turn them into housing for the “new arrivals”
Otherwords nothing much has changed. Kyle L.